Vezon
by Schattenu
Summary: The story of the halfbeing named Vezon from his creation to his being cursed by the Mask of Life told from his insane eyes.


Vezon

The first thing I felt in life was the feeling of being ripped apart.

I hit the stone floor pretty hard. But I mustn't show weakness, not in front of the others. I stood as quickly as I could. The others – the Piraka – looked confused. I looked down. Vezok was still on the ground. Disgusting.

"Get up," I said. "If I can, you can – after all, I am you, and you are me, and won't that be interesting? Of course, it would be easier if there were just one of us... maybe I should die? No, no, I have that wrong – maybe _you _should die."

Before the others could do anything, I grabbed that spear. The one that created me. I pointed it at Vezok. Oh, yes! How interesting this will be! But then a thought entered my mind – after all, I'd stolen Vezok's cunning. I lowered the spear. "No, no, bad idea," I said to myself. Or was it the voices in my head? "That will just make another of him... of me... or else something worse."

I saw a flash of black and gold. Reidak. His body rammed into mine. He was big. It hurt. I felt his arm against my throat. He had me against the wall. "What are you?" he asked me. His breath was positively atrocious. Didn't he ever brush those teeth? Oh, wait, he was speaking again. "Some new trick of Makuta's? What happened to Vezok?"

I wasn't afraid. He was an oaf. I calmly held up my spear. "This happened," I told him. How could he not know?

The white one – Thok – approached me. He examined the shaft of my spear. "Hakann, you imbecile," he said. That's right – Hakann was responsible for my creation. "You used it in reverse," Thok continued. "Instead of fusing Vezok with something else, you split him into two beings! This thing is a vezon.

"A vezon?" Thok's word made something click in my mind. I liked it. "Oh, yes, the Matoran word for 'double'. Yes, that does make sense. I will go by that name, then. Of course, first I will have to eliminate all of you so no one else knows I am only half a being. You don't mind, do you?" I would imagine they wouldn't. What I said made perfect sense. _Of course not, go ahead and kill us,_ I could hear them saying. Lovely!

I heard a roar and then another big someone knocked me to the ground. Vezok jumped on me and tried to steal the spear. _My_ spear. But he couldn't have it. Oh, no. I was here to stay. Reidak then tried to jump in between us. Vezok smacked him in the head with his harpoon. It was funny. I laughed.

Then I saw green. Lots of green. I couldn't see anything else. They were getting in my throat. I back up, saw that I still had the spear, and smiled. Zaktan reformed his body and was going to say something. But he stopped. His eyes glazed over. I felt mine do the same. We all just got the same thought then. None of us knew how, but we knew there was something out there we had to get.

And I would make sure I got it first.

"The Mask of Life," Zaktan whispered. His sickening voice drew me from my thoughts.

"The Mask of --" Thok started. He shook his head and gave Zaktan a weird look. I think he thought Zaktan had read his mind. Dolt.

"Think what we could do with that," Avak said. He sounded excited. Like a Matoran on Naming Day. "Think what it must be worth!"

I saw Hakann look at each of the others in turn. He thought he was so smart, but I could see right through him. It was then I realized that my other half had evidently forgotten about me.

"Find it. We have to find it," he was saying. I voiced my opinion.

"I agree."

All six of them looked at me. I wondered how they managed to survive all these years with such horrible observation skills. They'd forgotten me already! Vezok came at me again, but Reidak jumped in front of him.

"Let him help," he whispered to Vezok. His stealth skills were bad, too. He was an awful whisperer. "And if he dies in the process... so what? No big loss. He shouldn't be alive in the first place."

I was about to stab him in the back of his huge head when Zaktan's voice – well, voices – stopped me. "No," he said. "We have no room for a seventh, especially one with such a strange origin." What on earth did that have to do with anything?

"You should talk." Reidak voiced my thoughts so well. But I still wanted to stab him. It sounded like an exhilarating experience! "Vezok knows better than to betray his partners. I'm betting Vezon does, too." There was that amazing observation skill of his at work. "Now, do you want to spend who knows how long trying to get that spear away from him, or do you want to invite him along?"

"He's right, for once," Thok said. "A battle might leave none of us in shape to hunt for the mask."

Zaktan sighed and agreed. I smiled, but restrained from giggling. "We're done here," he said. "We must head to the island home of the mask immediately."

"I know you're right," Avak was saying. "But... isn't there more we should take from here? The mask has been hidden for thousands of years... why do we have to rush?" I sighed and rolled my eyes. I thought he was the smart one. Forget this team, I'm going to Voya Nui myself. Hey, that's an interesting name. Wonder where it came from?

"You know, there's only one thing bothering me," Reidak said. Me too. His voice was beginning to get annoying. "All this stuff – a Makuta lair, of all places – and there's no one and nothing here on guard. Doesn't that seem kind of weird?"

The wall behind me exploded. All of us were thrown against the other wall. A rather big something scuttled out from the wall.

"Makuta?" said Hakann.

Avak was saying something, but I wasn't listening. I knew what it was. Vezok heard of it once, meaning I did, too. But I didn't care. It just gave me my opening. While the others were dumbstruck, I scooted out the door Makuta was under. My, how sneaky I am! I refrained from giggling again. I found an old transport canister. Convenient! So I threw it in the water and hopped in. There were buttons. I like buttons. I hit the biggest one. I was thrown back as the canister rocketed through the sky and to the island of Voya Nui.

My ride hit something hard. I bounced around like an ussal on bath day. I tried not to be skewered by my spear. That wouldn't have been very pleasant. I pushed on the canister's lid. It was stuck. So I grabbed my weapon. Making sure it was on defuse mode, I blasted the cover with it. The lid separated and shot off into the water.

I climbed out, since the sparks from the damaged controls didn't seem very nice. I looked around. Talk about your fixer-upper. It was all rocky, save for one band of vegetation on the southern edge of the island. An active volcano spewed lava everywhere. I started walking toward it. I had no idea why, but it felt like the way to go.

The place was barren. The only thing I expected to see here was a goat. But then I saw it – a small Matoran settlement. I decided not to disturb them. Though the thought of punting them was amusing. _No, wait_, I thought. _Why would Matoran be on this rock? The Mask of Life! They're here to stop me. They're organizing a rebellion against me. Not today, little ones!_

I was so sneaky crawling around those rocks. They never expected a thing! I always kept one eye on them, and every time one turned to me, I dropped and lay still. Yes, I'm just a harmless little piece of scenery. Yes.

Then I saw him. He was sitting on a rock. Big. Very big. Red and silver armor. Gigantic axe. Looked dangerous.

He stood. Turned my way. I stood there, spear at my side. Man, was he big. His eyes narrowed when he saw me and he readied his weapon. "Who are you? What are you doing here? And don't lie to me – I'll know if you are." His mask started to glow.

"I'm just passing through," I told him.

"That's strike one."

"Okay. I'm studying the habits of rock-dwelling Rahi."

"Strike two." He took a step toward me, raising his axe.

"I'm looking for something." He didn't reply. His mask told him it was the truth.

"Where are you headed?" he asked me.

"No idea. I just got here. But I have a feeling somewhere thataway." I pointed down the slope with my Spear of Fusion. His eyes followed it. He raised an eyebrow.

"It wants you."

"Beg your pardon?"

"The Ignika," he said. Now it was my turn to raise an eyebrow. What a fun little game this was! "Never mind," he grumbled. The giant turned and slid down to a clearing. "Come," he beckoned.

I followed. With a mighty swing, he cleaved the ground open with his axe. A staircase of stone stretched down into the dark, sloping in the direction of the volcano.

"What's this?" I asked.

"The path to the object you seek," he replied. I figured at this point he was some sort of guardian of the mask. I looked down at the stairs.

"Nifty," I said. Then I turned to him. "Name's Vezon, by the way." I held out my hand, then felt something. He raised his eyebrows. I hope he didn't see me twitch. He looked at my hand, then turned away.

I yelled something obscene and gave him a certain gesture behind his back. How rude of him! Whatever. I started down the stairs. I heard the stranger grunt behind me. He closed up the hole behind me. Wonderful.

I walked down a ways. After nothing tried to kill me, I decided to skip down the stairs in my glee. This was easy! Everyone else that came down here must've been wimpy.

I saw another big guy come up the steps toward me. He looked like the other Piraka. But he had style. Such a lovely gold spine! Then Vezok's memories came to me, and I realized just what he was.

"Aren't you supposed to be a myth?" I ask Irnakk. He growled at me. Then poofed. Gone. Why did he go poof? Oh well. I continued my skipping.

I went down quite a ways until I reached a big chamber. It had large, red lightstones in the walls. Someone started talking to me about life and death. The entrance I came through closed. I tried to go through the other doorway, but I couldn't. Something invisible was there. Then the voice stopped in mid-sentence. The door behind me opened and the barrier went away. I shrugged and went through.

More stairs. Geez, there were a lot of stairs. I came to another chamber. A big yellow guy stood at the other end. His feet had wheels. Weird, yet stylish. He held a large glowing staff in his hands.

"You are the one the mask wants?" he asked.

"Come again?"

He nodded. "I, Umbra, allow you to pass, new guardian."

I smiled and patted him on the shoulder as I went by. "Keep up the good work, soldier!" I giggled to myself. I am so funny.

The doorway led to an impossibly large field of hardened magma. A huge bridge was at the other end, spanning across a river of lava. The mask was so close – I could feel it! I sprinted across the plain, laughing to myself in glee. It was so insanely close!

I stopped when I reached the stone bridge. It was old. It made an awful groaning sound when I stepped on it. I hope it doesn't collapse. To be quite honest, it doesn't sound very appealing to fall into lava. I braced myself. I heard a voice in my head then. Different from the others, though. It was calling me, beckoning me to come. It was through that gate on the other end of the bridge.

I ran for my life. The bridge made a bunch of unpleasant noises. But I made it to the end! "Ha!" I laughed. "Too easy! No bridge can stand against the great Vezon!" I turned and happily marched through the gate.

It was a vast chamber. Ringed on three sides by lava. What's with this place and lava? Whatever. In the center I saw the object of my quest: sitting upon a great stone pedestal was the golden shape of a Kanohi mask. The Mask of Life.

As I walked toward it, I saw a tiny Fenrakk spider skittering across the ground. I scooped him up in my hand. "Wonderful! You'll be my first test subject of my new life powers!"

I set Fenrakk on the head of my spear. The mask sat there tantalizingly. It was all mine. No other Piraka around to take it. I had succeeded before they had even begun to fail. I reached out and grasped my prize.

And the world exploded.

There was a blinding flash of light. A burning pain shot through my arm. I screamed. I could deal with a lot, but this pain was otherwordly, like nothing anyone else has ever felt. It hurt so bad, but I could not let go. It was mine! MINE!

I opened my eyes the tiniest bit. It was still bright, though not as much as before. The mask's empty eye holes seemed to glare at me with contempt and a desire for me. A beam of light shot out from the mask and struck the Fenrakk spider. Before my eyes the creature grew a thousand times its size. I felt my arm moving by itself toward the back of my head. The top of the Kanohi Ignika touch my cranium, fusing itself to my skull.

Then the light was gone. I staggered back and almost fell into the lava. Once my vision cleared, I saw teeth. Rows of too large teeth.

I rolled to one side, avoiding Fenrakk's snapping jaws. He lunged at me, but I was too quick for him. I smacked him in the side of of the head with the flat of my spear. He thrashed his head around and scratched at it with his foreleg. I tried fusing his feet to the ground, but he jumped forward and grabbed the shaft of the spear in his teeth. With a growl he tried tugging it from my hands.

"Hey!" I yelled. "I need that! Give it back!" Far too often was I playing tug-of-war over this spear. I took a step toward the Rahi and headbutted him. Dazed, he dropped the weapon. "Ha!"

He lunged again. I jumped back. His teeth caught hold of my cape. He tore at it and ripped holes in it. I stabbed him in the leg. As he nursed the wound, I examined my clothing.

"You know, just because _you _don't care that your backside is naked -- !" Fenrakk's answer was a powerful kick to my chest. I fell back into the mask's pedestal. I then ducked to avoid his sharp foreleg, which buried itself into the stone where my head had just been.

"Is that your best shot?" I taunted. He spat at me. It was apparently acidic, since it burned yet another hole in my cape. "Come on, I don't have extra capes lying around! I need this one!" He charged at me. I jumped up and landed on his back, hanging on for dear life.

A glow emanated from somewhere behind me. I turned, but saw nothing. The glow was always behind me, no matter where I turned. Then I realized that the Mask of Life was up to something again. With another blast of energy, the armor of my feet welded to that of Fenrakk's back. No matter how hard I tried, I could not pry myself from him.

Another bolt of light created a chain that wrapped around my wrist. The other end attached itself to Fenrakk's neck. At least I have a loyal steed now. And the Mask of Life was mine. I had already won!

Then I looked at the only doorway in or out. It was far too small for Fenrakk to fit through. Even if he could squeeze through, that bridge would never hold both of us.

It was at that moment that I realized the mask had cursed me here. That's what Umbra and that axe-wielder were talking about. It brought me down here to be its new and latest guardian, like the big guy above and Umbra and Irnakk and the Death Room.

So from that day on, I waited with Fenrakk for the Piraka to come. I knew they would. The mask granted me – _us –_ amazing powers. The others would be followed by Toa with some really weird masks. That's when things would get exciting.

In the meantime, at least I had those voices in my head to keep me company.


End file.
